Bentworth and the Ivall Family

The village of Bentworth is about 3 miles NW of the town of Alton in Hampshire. Records show that members of the Ivall family lived there from about 1732 to 1834.

My earliest known ancestor, William Ivall, was born in 1699 in Preston Candover, a village 4 miles W of Bentworth. He married Anne Kersley in 1730 in Shalden, a village 3 miles NE of Bentworth. They seem to have moved to Bentworth soon after they married as their first child Mary was baptised there in 1732. Anne died in 1759 and William in 1773. Both are buried in St Mary’s Churchyard, Bentworth.

St Mary’s Church, Bentworth

The churchyard contains a row of 5 Ivall graves under a yew tree, near the main church door.

The graves are, from left to right, those of

1. William Ivall (1699-1773)

2. William Ivall (1736-1811), William and Anne’s eldest son. The 1798 land tax records show that he owned land in Bentworth. He is described as a yeoman in his will.

3. Anne Ivall nee Kersley (1705-1759)

4. James Ivall (1745-1809), third son of William and Anne Ivall. James was a farmer and wheelwright.

5. Dinah Ivall nee Camies (1748-1819), who married James Ivall in 1774.

The map above is a drawing of the 1911 Ordnance Survey map showing Bentworth. It includes two buildings with Ivall in their name.

 1. Ivall’s Farm (see photo above), which is where James Ivall was living in 1799.

2. Ivall’s House (see above). This is said to have originally been one of the subsidiary buildings of the farm, which over the years was modified and extended.

The number of Ivalls living in Bentworth decreased from about 1800 onwards – several members of the family moved to nearby villages or to London. The final Ivall entries in Bentworth parish records are the burials of Elizabeth Charlotte and Anne Ivall, grandchildren of James Ivall, who both died in 1834. There are no Ivalls listed in Bentworth in the 1841 census or later ones.